Union Minister Manohar Lal to chair Bengal BJP stock-taking meet

Union Minister and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal will chair the Bengal BJP’s extended state committee meeting here on Wednesday to outline the party’s political strategy in the State in the wake of its poor performance in the general election and July 10 by-polls.

A source said Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had initially been scheduled to chair the meeting, but it was cancelled as he is unwell. Singh was discharged from AIIMS Delhi on Saturday and informed Bengal BJP leaders of his inability to chair the meeting.

The two-day state executive meeting will start on Tuesday at the Science City auditorium, where BJP office-bearers will discuss issues with district leadership. The decision-making process regarding the party’s next course of action will be held on Wednesday in the presence of Khattar, Union minister of Housing, Urban Affairs and Power.

The Bengal BJP has been on the back foot since the party won only 12 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — six fewer than in the 2019 general elections — prompting many BJP leaders to accuse the current state leadership of failing to retain the party’s organisational strength that was built since 2017-18.

A state BJP leader said the meeting would be significant as the party had called all district presidents, general secretaries, observers of Lok Sabha and Assembly segments, and mandal presidents in Calcutta to analyse the party’s failure and outline its next strategy.

“Around 3,000 party leaders from across Bengal will be present at the meeting. Once the extended committee meetings in all 30 States are done, a national-level meeting will be organised in Delhi, where all State general secretaries and party’s Lok Sabha observers will be present,” said a source in the BJP.

The meeting is important as the BJP has elevated the Bengal state president and Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar to a junior Union Minister, indicating that the party will replace him with a new face to lead the 2026 Assembly election campaign. Multiple sources said the party is yet to find a replacement for Majumdar amid speculation that it might appoint a woman as the state president.

A large section of BJP leaders in both Calcutta and districts have demanded the reappointment of former state president Dilip Ghosh, who was instrumental in the BJP’s rise in the State and the party’s win of 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

“Everyone knows how factional feuds resulted in Dilip Ghosh’s shift to contest the election in the Bardhaman-Durgapur seat from his constituency Midnapore. The central leadership should address such divisions within the party if they want to see better performance in Bengal,” said a BJP leader.

BJP Banchao Mancha — an outfit of the BJP’s rebels — has decided to start a sit-in at the party’s old state headquarters on 6 Muralidhar Sen Lane, demanding action against the current office-bearers for the party’s poor performance in the State on Wednesday, when the official leadership will be busy conducting the crucial meeting.